Why Music ?

“When a child learns by experience that music forges direct links between self and world, self-expression becomes more fluent; the music helps interpret ‘who I am’.” -"Growing up Complete”, the report of the National Commission on Music Education

In both Kindermusik for the Young Child classes, we have learned a set of notes that have opened up a whole new world of music. In the last few weeks, we really enjoyed pretending to be notes on a staff that is laid out on the floor.

The YC 2 students now know the location of 4 notes:(always start from the bottom)

–c’on the 3rd space

–a’on the 2nd space

–f’on the 1st space

–d’on the 4th line

The YC 4 class now knows the entire C’ – C” scale, and we are practicing a new song that allows us to use the whole scale, by steps and leaps.

For fun at home, you might try using sidewalk chalk to make a staff, then play with it in the following ways:

Name one of the notes that the students know, then have the child jump into that space (always start from the bottom of the staff).Switch off to allow the child to call out the note, and the parent finds the right place.

One person stands on a known note location, and other person has to name that note.Take turns.

Find or cut out circles to use as notes.One person can place 4 circles on the staff and the other person has to read them.You might even use the body movements.As the adult reads it, you might try to make a mistake and have them correct you.

Name a note you know, then try tossing a coin or a stone onto that space or line (this is a little trickier with the line notes, but they enjoy the game).

Remember, children remember BEST when they are moving and having fun. This involves the brain, the body, and their emotions to enable their neural networks to make these connections solid! Have fun!